H o w t o f l y w i t h o u t w i n g s
by RuthFarnan
Summary: Fang's had enough. He can't stand this whole 'Saving the World' thing. He wants to just be normal. Have a family. Go to school. Find love. To Fly without wings. Fang x Made-up/Iggy x Max
1. Normality

/Note/Hey! This is my first fanfiction so go easy on me! I'm writing this for a friend who loves Fang but I'm also making a few points by adding in some rants of my own. I would love if you could review! I really want to know what I'm doing in the writing world. Thanks! -Ruth

H o w t o f l y w i t h o u t w i n g s

A M a x i m u m R i d e F a n f i c t i o n

B y R u t h F a r n a n

I do not own 'Maximum Ride' or any Original Characters. I may have changed a few relationship standards to find and Characters personality may have been altered due the the fact I am not James Patterson therefore not being able to get his character exactly right. Also, In Maximum Ride their wings seem to fit under clothing making it easier to hide them. If there wings were the size they make them out to be they would not be able to fit under a jumper. Just making that clear.

W r i t t e n f o r C a r o l i n e

-Dedicated to anyone who still hasn't found their wings-

C h a p t e r O n e

N o r m a l i t y

He stood on the side of the gray building. Pigeons ruffling their feathers and steering clear of the boy. His hair was teased by the heavy wind which couldn't even move his feet. His dark eyes, scanning the people below. They all led normal live. Nothing much ever happening. He sighed and looked up into the sky. Couldn't he be normal?

Normal – a strange word. What was normal these days? Fitting in? Having family? No. Normal was not trying to save the world everyday. Normal was not being chased for no reason. Normal was being able to fly without wings.

He let himself drop. Dive. _Fall._ Past the dark night and the glittering lights. To fly he only had to miss the ground.

He lifted into the air. Souring. Gliding._ Flying. _

Dark slivery black wings had flicked from behind him - taking his weight, lifting him to the midnight sky. He moved them up and down quickly, letting some loose feathers fall off. He'd had 16 years to learn to fly. It's usually easier when your born with wings. Born to be experimented on. At least there were others like him.

He flew south, but something called him back. It could've just been the hum of the cars below, but he could have sworn he heard the city calling his name. Fang.

"Fang! Where the hell have you been!"It was Max. "You've been gone for 6 hours!"Fang shrugged. Max frowned. "What kind of attitude is that for someone who's saving the world."She said sitting around the crackling fire again beside a little girl. Angel. Fang made a growling sound and jumped soundlessly onto the second branch fifteen feet up.

Maximum Ride, Iggy, Gasman, Nudge, Angel and Total. The Flock. Not the standard group of children(and dog) you'd see. All with wings. All able to fly(Except for Total – But he'd get there). Max was the boss. Anything she said went. They all listened to her. After her it would be him. Iggy was the oldest, but being blind (beside the occasional colour sensing and seeing in snow) was not one of the best candidates for leader but came in great handy when him and Gasman used explosives. Gasman – The youngest boy in the flock followed Iggy like a loyal puppy. Nudge the most stylish of them all, made sure everyone looked there best, wings or not. Angel, the youngest, but don't get her wrong. Under all that cuteness she has powers that can read your mind, manipulate you...and maybe worst. It's scary, but everyone gets used to it after a while. Total is the crazy talking, nearly flying dog. He's the soul of the flock and tended to add a little more crazy to everything.

"Fang?"Max called. He grunted. "You want food?"Fang grunted again and turned his head to the tree trunk. "Fine then."Max muttered and began talking to Angel. He wasn't bothered. Not anymore. He was sick of being Max's sidekick – The other one who would have saved the world. He didn't want to save the world! It meant moving from place to place. Never just staying. Always running. Always hiding. What happened to just being Normal. Oh, right. It's impossible to be Normal when you have wings.

"Fang?"It was Iggy, sitting a branch below him. Fang looked down. "What's up?"He said flicking a bit of dark hair from his face. "I should be asking you! What's wrong?" He said looking up to where Fang was but his eyes blank, looking through him. "It's nothing, Dude." He said."Just the way we are again. Just like how we started off."He sighed. Iggy frowned. "Is that not what you wanted?"He asked. Fang though for a minute. It had been what he wanted. No. It's what Max wanted. He had liked her. But he'd grown and with that had lost her. Iggy coughed. "Yeah, man. That's what I wanted." He said ending the conversation with his tone. He didn't want to continue. He'd just sleep. Except he'd never dream of Flying. He'd dream of walking. Walking with normality.

/Note/ Please review!


	2. Freedom

/Note/The City is the City of Dublin. My hometown in Ireland. I love it so much! I just had to make The Flock go there!

C h a p t e r T w o

F r e e d o m

The morning sun poured softly though the autumn branches, bare and dry. The sunlight turning the last dead leaves to flames and the burning colours awoke the forest. Fang's eyes burned golden as the rays hit his face and blinded him. He stood up on the branch and brushed the frost off his wings, olive skin and eyelashes. His breath swirled out as a white fog and he rubbed his eyes.

His digital watch read 12pm – He'd forgotten to change it to the current timezone. He jumped from the tree landing lightly beside the hissing fire. Angel, Max and Nudge were asleep in their sleeping bags by the dying fire and Iggy and Gasman in the tree. Fang picked up a few small sticks and got the fire started up again. It was cold but it didn't effect him much. He looked towards the clearing of tree behind him. The city just below the hill. It was so strange that the city would be so close to such forest. It was the capital city of Ireland – He though it would be bigger. The tallest thing in it was a giant spike sticking out of the ground in the city's center. He looked back at the rest of the flock sleeping. Total was sleeping on Max's feet and making a rather odd snoring noise. They wouldn't miss him for a hour,

He snapped open his wings and quickly broke into a run throwing himself into the air. There were bread vans and trucks rolling down small roads and occasional cars driving down the motorway. The sea was always in view and large twin industrial pipes towered into the sky, their red and white paint reflecting the morning sun. The only people up were going to work or had been working. For a capital city it was amazingly quiet.

Fang landed on top of a lighthouse on the end of an island connected to the land by a tombola. He watched the sun rise and the city come to life. By the time to got up to fly again cars where in stationary lines on every road. He flew over the city once more, returning to the forest camp.

"Fang! Why do you keep running off!?" Max yelled at him as he landed. "Flying."Fang muttered. "What?!"Max yelled her wings flinging out. "I said Flying. I don't keep running away. I keep flying away."He explained with a bored look on his face. He knew this was going to tick her off. "Fang!...Ok...Well we are leaving for the Itex building in New York now so -" Fang cut her off. "I'm got going."Max froze. "What?"Her face had dropped. Everyones face had. Even Total and most of the time it was hard seeing his expressions.

"Max, you really need to get your ears cleaned out. I'm said I'm not going."Fang said. "I'm staying in Dublin."Iggy and Gasman who had been packing up were now staring at him. Angel was looking up at Max with a worried look, Nudge was staring at Fang and Total was making a strange growling sound and licking Angel's hand.

"And what are you going to do in Dublin?"Max asked getting annoyed. Fang shrugged. "I might try to find a Itex HQ here...Or I might get myself fostered..."He said mumbling to himself near the end. Max gritted her teeth. "Are you mad!?"She yelled. "Get fostered!? Doesn't 'having wings' not make it clear that we have to stay hidden!?"Fang clenched his fist. "Maybe I don't want to stay hidden!! Maybe I just want to stay in one place! Maybe I just want to be normal, Max!" Fang yelled at her face. Angel hid behind her. Nudge flinched. Iggy and Gasman froze. Total let out a yelp. "You have found your family! It just doesn't matter to you anymore that I want someone too! You want to save the world! The Great Maximum Ride! Saving the World. I'm sick of it ,Max! Your not the Max I used to know. Your different now. Or maybe I just realized I want to be Normal. Goodbye Max. Nudge. Angel. Iggy. Gasman. Total. I'm sorry." He said, grabbed his bag and threw himself into the air, kicking leaves over them all. "GOOD! FANG! GO! WE DON'T NEED YOU ANYWAY!!" Max yelled after him her wings stretched out in fury, but he had already dived back to the city. Max dropped to her knees and shook with sobs. Angel fell down beside her. Total whimpered loudly. Nudge stared at nothing and Iggy and Gasman looked at each other and quickly turned away again.

He had no idea where he was going, but he followed where ever he was being taken. He landed in the back alleyway where two men were unloading glasses from a van into the back door of a pub. They didn't see him.

He'd been practicing his power to turn unnoticeable. He'd found out that he could focus on being unnoticed and then he would be invisible, but he still had the problem where if he stood still he also disappeared.

Fang walked out to the front of the pub and looked at it's breakfast menu. Angel had managed to manipulate some man at a ATM to give her five hundred Euro. He'd agreed and Fang had €278 of that money. He didn't know how long he would be without getting money so he decided to choose to just go to the nearest McDonalds and get a huge breakfast for only two Euro.

He took his black hoodie out of his bag and pulled it over his head. It covered his wings but the tips till stuck out. He made sure they weren't too visible. He bought a few McDonald breakfasts. The people at the counter stared at him as he ate the last tray of food and left.

He wandered the streets. Not really sure where he'd end up. He'd never asked himself that. Where would he end up? Where does a kid with wings, alone, in a city end up? He was free now, right? Able to live like a normal person. He had real freedom. Not that freedom of being chased around be flying robots. He could live now. He was truly free.

/Note/The plot is getting somewhere so no panicking! I'll give you good people a bit of Fax near the end but that's it. I have a basic plot and everything so I'll be following that. I haven't read the books in a while. It's let me go over the characters a lot and make them my own in a way. Thanks for the reviews. They make me very very happy. I'd love to end this Fanfiction(after many many more chapters) would an amazing sad and depressing end with a happy/sweet twist to it, but my friend would not be happy with it. I've got a pretty cool ending, but my friend wants a happy ending where everyone stays alive (most of my books end with the main character dying...Yeah. Sorry for the the rant! Please review! Love ya all!

-Ruth


	3. Leaving without you

/Note/ Fang's age has been shifting around along but I'm going to go with 14. Was that the age he was in the Final Warning?

C h a p t e r T h r e e

L e a v i n g w i t h o u t y o u

Where does a fourteen year old wandering the street of Dublin end up? The authorities of course.

Fang was sitting in a police station. It was 5 o'clock. He'd been walking around Dublin for ages now. Going into shops, watching buskers, going to movies. He'd really no idea what he was doing. He'd had about 2 hours to come up with some story for the Police. He wasn't sure if he'd get away with it, but he'd try.

"Ok, son."A cop sat in the chair in front of him. "You've been spotted on your own for about 6 hours now. I know you probably havn' done anythin' wrong, bu' we need ye to tell us some details about yerself before yer aloud out of 'ere." His accent was strong. An Irish accent. Fang nodded. The policeman took out a pencil and put it to a sheet of paper with a form printed on it.

"Ok. Yer name?" He asked getting his pencil ready. "James Jervis." He answered as fluently as if it was his name. The policeman nodded and scribbled it down. "Date of Birth?"Fang answered the date he had come up with years ago for his birthday. He had no idea of his real age. "Place of Birth?"Fang hesitated and said: "California." It was a good place to have been born. "I've travel a lot since then."The policeman eyed him. "Ye have parents or guardian around 'ere?" Fang shook his head. "So yer alone?"Fang nodded again. "My parents died 5 years ago."He said. "Now I've just been traveling. James isn't my real name. I just use it." The policeman sighed, "Do ye have any form of American passport?" Fang shook his head again. The man frowned.

"I'm sorry, but if ye are tellin' us the truth. We'll have to put ye into care. Yer underage without a guardian. Ye'll have to be fostered." Fang's heart lept. A family? "Oh." He didn't let his feelings show. "Sure...I think..."The policeman nodded. "Ok. We'll have to keep you here for 3 days and if no one tries to claim ye we'll take ye in for good."Fang nodded. This was getting harder to keep up, but he would get through it. Hopefully.

Max sat on a smooth granite rock, her knees to her chest and her arms around her legs. Attempting to hug it all away. The pain. She had tried to keep the flock together, now she had failed. They had stayed in that forest for 3 nights now and Fang wasn't coming back.

Iggy stood behind her. Listening to her breath. Wishing he could see her. He knelt down and put his arm out slowly, his fingers reaching her shoulder. "Max?" He said his hand twisting her toward him. "We should go. We're all getting tried waiting and we've looked all over Dublin. If Fang is going to come back he'll follow us to New York." Max was silent. Iggy stared at her and frowned. Max smiled. "I'm thinking." She said and stood up. Iggy nodded and looked behind him sharply.

"Did you hear...?" He muttered and Max turned to him. "Nevermind..." Max looked into the trees behind them but saw nothing. "Ok." She said and took Iggy's hand, leading him back into the campsite in the forest.

The rest of the flock were lying around on the bags poking at the dying fire. Max sighed and picked up her bag. The rest did the same. "Everyone ready?"She asked and they all looked up. "We're going? To New York?" Nudge spoke confused. Max nodded. "But what about..."Iggy put his hand over her mouth. "Come on. NYC awaits...Again." He said swinging his bag over his back. They all did the same and Max lifted herself into the air. "Ok...Off to America again...Without Fang."She muttered and let the flock follow her into the dark clouds.

Leaving without him.

It had been days since Fang had left the flock, maybe even a week, but Fang had stopped counting the days and only knew that it was the weekend because that morning different policemen were on duty. It was his last day there. No one had claimed him so he was going with some random family.

"Get your stuff kid."A unfamiliar policeman called. He'd gotten to know they guy who fed him each day. He had a complete lie of his life and had practiced it over and over again, nearly so much that he'd convinced himself it was the truth. The police had believed it and so had the children's rights people. Next he'd had to convince his new family.

Fang grabbed his bag and followed the man out the door. He was glad to leave the station. It reminded him to much of the lab with the white-coats, except this time everyone wore blue uniforms.

Fang was waiting in the front hall for 10 minutes. Waiting for his new life.

They arrived in a 2001 white Audi. It was smart and clean. A woman got out along side a man. They were both somewhere in there 50's. The man was getting slightly bald, the woman had dyed her graying hair and had they both had let there weight build as bit.

Fang stood up a bit straighter, pushing his hands down his back, making sure his wings were unseen. The woman entered the hall and up to the desk. "Yes, Hello. I'm here to collect James Jervis?"She said to the man at the desk. The man nodded and handed her forms and she quickly filled them out. "We can take him with us now?"The policeman nodded and looked around. "He was here a second ago..." He muttered looking at the seat Fang was sitting on. Fang realised he had been sitting still for too long and he was no longer visible. The man looked away and he quickly shook himself and stood up. "Oh! There he is. I didn't notice him there..."The woman quickly spun and around and a smile sprung across her face. "Hello!" She said cheerfully. "Your James?" Fang nodded.

The woman was about a inch smaller them him but her husband was taller them him. "Your very handsome!" She said making a strange face and embracing him with a hug. Fang returned the hug with much less enthusiasm. "I'm Molly O'Connor and this is my husband Patrick O'Connor. You can call us Molly and Patrick.". Fang nodded. "You can call me Fang – My Nickname." He said as he had found out he never really answered well to James. "Ok, Fang."

He followed them into the car and it drove off away from the station. Away for good.

Leaving them behind.


	4. Settling In

C h a p t e r F o u r

S e t t l i n g I n

He stared blankly at the ceiling. It was painted white like the walls and the bare light-bulb swung slightly from the open window's breeze. He had his own room. A wardrobe,a desk, a lamp, a bed and a window. The window looked onto a street with similar houses and expensive looking gardens and cars. He's been told that this was a quiet area and that hanging around wasn't aloud. They'd obviously had some troublesome foster children before by the amount of rules set down.

The rules were fair. In by 11 o'clock on a weekend and 9 on a school night. Homework must be done before going out and going to school was a must. And absolutely no drinking or smoking. Punishment was being grounded for as long as necessary or the taking away of pocket money. Fang was given 10 Euro a week for transport ,leisure, school supplies and other items. Money for food,clothes and health was provided once asked.

Fang hung on every word the couple had said. Suddenly there were rules. He'd never had much rules since now. The money business was weird too. He was completely out of place. It wasn't what he'd expected. From all the books he'd read families were different. It seemed with this, that the couple were only taking in older children to mind in a safe environment till they made it on their own.

Fang lay on the white mattress and though about the flock. They'd have left by now. Max would have taken them to New York. She was like that. No matter what happened she'd continue on saving her world. Even without him. He missed Iggy. They joked together a lot – it mostly consisted on Iggy asking who the hottest girl around was and Fang making jokes about how Iggy's sex life wouldn't work out.

"How would you ever have sex Iggy?!" Fang laughed. Iggy frowned. "What's that supposed to mean!?". Fang smirked. "How would you know where to put it if you couldn't see?" Iggy laughed. "I'd know what colour it is so I'd be fine!". Fang frowned. "What colour is it?". Iggy looked confused. "I don't know.". Fang laughed. "Man, I'm nearly sure it's not a different colour! Like, Imagine a blue vag!". At that point Max would have hit them both over the head with the tips of her wings for speaking so immaturely around the younger three. Though Gasman would just sit there looking confused, begging for Fang and Iggy to explain while they both just laughed.

Fang smiled at the memories. But his memories were more like dreams at this stage. He realised he couldn't remember Max's face and it worried him, so he decided to go for a walk...or a fly.

He's made his way down the stairs too the sitting room. Molly was sitting on the couch with a laptop and a small dark girl was sitting on window still with a mobile phone, texting. "Oh hello Fang." Molly said grinning. "Is your room ok?". Fang nodded still looking at the girl. She looked Asian - perfectly straight shiny black hair and olive skin. Her body looked delicate, her chest small and her limbs thin. She didn't look up and kept her eyes down at the phone's screen. She was very pretty but looked young. She was wearing a tiny black netted skirt with leggings and a tight top with a simple stripe pattern. Her bracelets and shoes had matching little pink bows on them and she wore a large amount of silver necklaces,bangles and little piercings over her body. She was about 16 but looked so petite that she could've be treated as a child.

"This is Kiso. She's also been fostered by us. She's been here about 3 years now." Molly explained. Kiso looked up, her eyes wide and animated. She bowed her head. "She doesn't talk much. She's only been learning English for 5 years." Molly finished. Kiso looked at Molly and then back to the phone.

Fang nodded slowly and fiddled with his fingers. "I'm going out. I'll be back in an hour." He said quietly. "Ok. Just don't go far. Don't want you getting lost." She replied, then turned back to the laptop screen. Fang nodded and turned to the kitchen door. He was starving. Being a bird-human made him eat much more then the average human. He'd been eating what humans normally ate and he'd been quite weak the last few days. He didn't know how he'd get more food without making it suspicious. He took 2 slices of bread and wolfed them down just before he walked out the door. He's find some way of getting food. He always did.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Iggy followed the sound of Max's voice. She was muttering on about the book she was reading. He wasn't paying attention to her but was merely using her voice to stay with the group. Fang would usually keep him in line by talking to him but he was finding it hard today and Gasman had had to pull him in the right direction several times already.

Angel was staring down at the fluffy clouds below her. It was cold up where they were but she wore a large puffy coat that had slits on the back for wings, like most clothes they had. Nudge was following behind Max carrying her rucksack under her. Gasman had Total in his arms, who was flapping his miniature wings in an attempt to fly himself. No one spoke.

After half an hour Max spoke up. "Ok guys. Were resting here for tonight. She pointed to an tiny calm island and then dropped towards it. The rest followed and Gasman pulled Iggy along. They landed on the beach. Max caught Angel from out of the air, She'd never been good at landing. The island was empty. There was a hut to their left but it had fallen over and looked 20 years old. It was very humid and warm.

"Max. We're no where near New York." Iggy said. "It's winter in New York and there are no tropical islands anywhere near it." He was right. He knew he was. He could hear everyone's breathing which was heavy from flying at high altitude. Max made a weird growling sound and gritted her teeth together. "Well...How about _YOU_ TRY TO NAVAGATE!" Everyone flinched. Iggy heard Max's wings flapping behind her. The flock used their wings a lot for emotion. When angry their wings were thrown upwards and flapped quickly. When scared they suddenly snapped outwards, pulling the person slightly of the ground- ready for take off. When sad they dropped and wrapped around the body. And when happy they tended to flap and give a jump to the person's step.

Max's wings were literally vibrating she was so angry and he could hear the feathers rustle. Everyone else's wings dropped but Angel jumped back in surprised making her wings snap out. Total started whining and took to hiding behind Iggy's feet.

Max looked at them all, her wings dropped around her and she took off. Iggy reached out but he had no idea which way she'd gone. "Gasman look after the rest. Set up camp and get a fire started. I'll go get her." Iggy mumbled and he took of into the air. He could see against white so once he'd got up into the white clouds he could see the black shape of Max land of the white sand on the other side of the island.

He quickly followed her and landed beside her. She gasped and turned around. "Ah! Iggy...How...I though you were Fang..."She gulped. This hurt Iggy. He didn't understand why but it did. "I'm sorry, Iggy."She whispered. "I just don't know what to do." He wished he could see her. He knew what she looked like. He'd asked Fang to describe her many times, down to every last detail – even her breast size. That was back when Fang liked Max so he didn't mind describing Max's every feature. He knew she'd had wavy dyed blonde hair but it was getting darker as the dye faded away and that her skin was light unlike Nudges, that she was skinny but her hips had widened and her chest had got larger since she'd grown. He felt her face once to see what she might look like. He felt her long eyelashes and soft skin. Her hair was silky and her lips plump. He found her beautiful.

"It's ok. I know this is hard for you. But Fang will come back. He always does, like the last time" He said, unsure of his own words. He put out his hand to her. He could faintly see her shape against the white sand. He placed his hand softly on her hair and then let his hand trace around the contours of her face. He felt her cheeks, wet from tears. "Don't cry Maxy." He said using his the name he usually used to annoy her. "I'm still her for you even if Fang leaves." He suddenly felt her body twist around his. Her arms round his neck and her chest against his. He felt her cheek against his face and her breath in his ear. He slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around her waist. She held him tighter so he embraced her, letting his face sink into her hair. She smelt so nice.

"Thanks Iggy." She whispered into his ear. Iggy smiled. "No problem. That's what I'm here for." She let go of him and stood back. He immediately wanted her back in his arms.

"We should get back." She said and took his hand before taking to the air. Iggy leapt into the sky after her. He could no long see her against the sky as it had grown dark and once again he could see nothing.


End file.
